“Wonderful place for the Money!!”

Great hotel for the money. I would abosolutely recommend this to anyone. My wife and I had the Jr suite and could not be any happier. Word of caution though, You will have to rent a car to enjoy the most out of liberia from that resort. If your looking for a 3-4star get away without being bothered then this is the place for you!!!!

“Quiet and remote, great wildlife!”

Room was very clean and spacious. Great view. Remote location, I would recommend a rental car or put aside extra money for taxis. The food at the hotel was great but keep your options open and don't go for all inclusive. Limited amount/variety of alcohol at the bar. Perfect place to go if you just want to relax. Can also kayak and snorkel. I would definitely come back here. Only thing I was disappointed to witness was one of the new "owners". One night at dinner she whistled loudly across the dining room to stop a taxi driver from driving up the road(which they have always done). She then explained how she's an owner and she doesn't want anyone driving up the road. I thought that was extremely tacky and lacking of manners. Other than that, everyone were came into contact with was very nice.

“A property in transition- good quiet getaway spot”

This hotel (formerly known as the Monarch) is too undersized to be a real resort (though plans are afoot to significantly expand it). Compared to the top-end places in the area, however, there is certainly great value for money here- esp.for couples looking for a quiet getaway; or perhaps families with younger kids who want to do mainly pool and beach activities. The rooms are spread out around a little hill overlooking the bay, so it was maybe 100-150 meters or so from the room (very clean and comfortable) to the restaurant/pool area (golf cart shuttle service was always available). Our room had a kitchenette. I strongly recommend having a car in order to have more options for restaurants, beaches, shopping and day trips. The hotel is very hard to find the first time; look for the Papillon restaurant sign. We ate at the restaurant one night and the dishes were very nice- though we were almost the only people in the restaurant (as mentioned, the problem with this place, which is only a couple of years old, is that it really isn't large enough to reach critical mass). The bar and restaurant close by around 9-9:30 so don't choose this place if you are looking for nightlife. The beaches (two) right below the hotel are quite small and calm; nicer and larger beaches are within 5-20 minutes drive. We did a half day boat-snorkel trip with a local guide (Luis) who works with the hotel- he did a very nice job.

“Quite and peaceful but update needed”

Pros: If you want to have a quite time away from everything, this place is a good place to be. Quite, secluded beaches near/in the hotel property. You see/hear birds and howler monkeys without any traffic noise and lights. Cons: This place has seen a better day. Update is desperately needed. Fixtures for shower look like they were never cleaned; layers of soap scum grossed me out. Sheets for the bed is old and warn. If you want to be close to stores, restaurants, you want to stay near Coco Beach. From Monarch, it's not walking distance to anywhere and bus is difficult to figure out. Hotel people didn't even try to explain how the bus works, they just told us to take a cab which is $15 to Coco Beach each way. And I would NOT call this place a "resort."

“Wonderful Staff but otherwise... meh”

We came to the Monarch after an incredible stay at the Flamingo Beach Resort and Spa and Monarch was a little sad compared to the Flamingo. The staff was AMAZING, so attentive (because they had little else to do), so accomodating; they truly wanted to make us feel welcome and appreciated and we did. However, the fabulous staff could not cover up some of the glaring deficiancies of the hotel. We paid the same amount to stay at the Monarch that we did at the Flamingo and while the rooms were spacious and the scenery secluded and picturseque it was needed slightly more attention to detail. We were really surprised to find that there were crabs in the pool. They were dead from the chlorine of course but crabs in the pool?!! We had a lovely chat with another couple whose children made a game of retrieving the dead crabs from the bottom of the pool every night. That evening they recovered 27. That was really the only, "what have we gotten ourselves into?" moment. But after seeing the crabs, I felt like the hotel just could not be clean to the standard I wanted and I felt dirty. There were blood stains on the sheets on our bed and I had to clean the tub of soap scum before my son took a bath. If he had not been covered with sand from the beach, I never would have bathed him in it. The hotel restaurant is also VERY expensive in contrast to our stay at the Flamingo. We ate two meals there and doubled he cost of our stay. And if you do not have a car, forget it!